If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

" If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."

                                                  Vincent Van Gogh

I hear the voice inside my head encouraging me to create something everyday. Mostly I see visions of what the finished product should be. Then the hard work begins; to overcome the obstacles, learn new skills and make many mistakes ( I mean samples) until I get as close to the creative inspiration that is within my ability at this time.  

Impact Women's Artist Gallery of Buffalo NY, with special thanks to Susan Marie Borden, put out a call for creative inspirations from female artists who work with some form of fiber as their medium.

  Fiber has been used throughout history as a means of creative expression for women. Women in every culture of the world have sewn clothing for their family, creative constructing and creative embellishment have been a natural outgrowth of this experience. Much of the social- cultural history of women is written in needlework, rugs, knitting and crochet in any society. Fiber art is the perfect medium of female creative expression.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119641280/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/286/08.pdf

 CT ARTISTS GALLERY   presents   Fibre Arts Initiative 2010
July 14th – August 14th
Reception: Friday , July 16, 2010 5-9pm     Saturday, July 17th, 2010 12-4pm   
   Impact Gallery open
Wednesday-Friday 11am -4pm 
Saturdays (special early) 11am-4pm
Post-Workshop Show’nTell Gathering July 24th 2-4pm

Two garments from my Ultra Feminine Warrior collection 2010 as seen on Runway 3.0 Fashion Show.  also two Statements Necklace available on our  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ricerafferty

                           Kara and I will be in Quebec next week during the set up.  

             Susan, who curated this show, was kind enough to meet so I could set up my work early. 

           Each artist is allowed to bring eight pieces of work that will fit into six feet of wall space

Paper Rose 2009 - medium; handmade abac paper & natural elements sewn onto canvas. 

                                     I love the textures and quiet richness of this triptych.

                 .

Better with Experience 2009 -  made of steel wire, paper pulp and rust.  

The seven layers are nesting to form a floral like element.  The rust, a metaphor for a woman growing older and better with experience, provides aging and interest to the art object.

Here is a small selection of my Devore- burnout velvet- composite silk/rayon velvet.

Devoré, from the French word for devour, occurs when sodium bi sulphate is applied to the cloth, dried, then heated. The heat process causes the sodium bi sulphate to eat away at the fabric, leaving the treated area transparent.

Devore is a process that has been used in the fashion industry for many years. Originally it was known as "poor man's lace" and was called "broderie chimique" in Europe because it was used to simulate magazine embroidery. The main use of devore has been on cut velvet fabric with a pile of viscose or rayon on a silk warp/backing.

to see more ricerafferty devore images
http://www.facebook.com/pages/rice-rafferty/203899441756#!/album.php?aid=162016&id=203899441756

Art of Healing Show Impact Gallery Tri-Main Buffalo, NY month of February

Flowers of Secrets will be presented in the

Art of Healing and Mental Health Exhibiton 2010

Impact Artists' Gallery

#545 Tri-Main Center, 2495 Main St.,

Buffalo 14214 The exhibition may be viewed during regular gallery hours Wednesday –

Friday 11-4 and Saturdays 1-4.

Please call the gallery if there is inclement weather.

716-835-6817

http://impactartist.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/art-and-healing-show-in-february/01/08/art-and-healing-show-in-february/

Flowers of Secrets were conceived from the concept of people feeling like trash by something they are ashamed of, a secret that burdens their soul. Since secrets that bother us have the ability to make a person feel like trash; my new favorite art material, used coffee filters, offers an large supply of material for the cost of collecting and washing them loose of excess coffee ground. Like a wound, a sore filled with pus from an infection, the wound needs to be lanced. Once lanced, cut open, exposed to air and sun light, the pus will run out freely and the healing can begin. If the wound is not opened the infection will continue to grow. It will fester and increase in volume, size and pain until a person who was once active and healthy feels like a worthless, piece of trash.

Writing secrets I gather from PostSecrets, an online community where people make handmade postcards with the secret that is bothering them written on the back offers an endless supply of secrets. I decided to focus on secrets most likely written by a female since I understand how a woman may think more than I do a man.

The coffee filter is perfect because it is a circle (sacred hoop, ring): An ancient and universal symbol of unity, wholeness, infinity, the goddess, and female power. To earth-centered religions throughout history as well as to many contemporary pagans, it represents the feminine spirit or force, the cosmos or a spiritualized Mother Earth, and a sacred space.
Each coffee filter is coated with bees wax which served as a base for medicines to act as a healing balm. The wax also adds strength to the paper filter, a pleasant fragrance and a translucent, skin like quality.

Writing the secret on the circular, up cycled coffee filter did not seem like I gave enough time, respect and esteem to either the secret or the anonymous author. I decided it would be better to embroider with soft, speaking, neutral color floss the words I copied from PostSecret. While I stitch each secret I pray for peace in the heart and soul of the anonymous author. Piecing with the needle, a sort of acupuncture, tattooing ritual further adds to the healing process. As I work and pray for the healing of another woman I am feeling a cathartic healing within myself.

"Loaded with so much symbolism: round like breasts; slits like vaginas; soft like the female body; interiors like wombs, vaginas, mouths, and/or the psyche; and then subtly stitched with secrets, like clues that give insight into the person who secret they caress.” I envision this installation growing until I create a large, walk-in, space filled with healing Flowers of Secrets hanging suspended from above.

Carol Ann Rice Rafferty